Hybrid FMT-CT imaging of amyloid-beta plaques in a murine Alzheimer's disease model

作者:Hyde Damon*; de Kleine Ruben; MacLaurin Sarah A; Miller Eric; Brooks Dana H; Krucker Thomas; Ntziachristos Vasilis
来源:NeuroImage, 2009, 44(4): 1304-1311.
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.10.038

摘要

The need to study molecular and functional parameters of Alzheimer's disease progression in animal models has led to the development of disease-specific fluorescent markers. However, curved optical interfaces and a highly heterogeneous internal structure make quantitative fluorescence imaging of the murine brain a particularly challenging tomographic problem. We investigated the integration of X-ray computed tomography (CT) information into a state-of-the-art fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) scheme and establish that the dual-modality approach is essential for high fidelity reconstructions of distributed fluorescence within the murine brain, as compared to conventional fluorescence tomography. We employ this method in vivo using a fluorescent oxazine dye to quantify amyloid-beta plaque burden in transgenic APP23 mice modeling Alzheimer's disease. Multi-modal imaging allows for accurate signal localization and correlation of in vivo findings to ex vivo studies. The results point to FMT-CT as an essential tool for in vivo study of neurodegenerative disease in animal models and potentially humans.